Pizza Karma will open its fourth brick-and-mortar restaurant in Dinkytown once near the end of March or the beginning of April pending approval from the city’s health department.

The pizza is Tandoor-fired, cooked in a cylindrical oven. The fuel used in a Tandoor-fired pizza is charcoal or firewood, according to the Tandoor of India website. 

The restaurant serves pizza, wraps, various appetizers, salads, wings and bowls. Owner Rajesh Selvaraj said the menu represents flavors from around the world, including British, Scandinavian and Mexican. 

“It’s all about the flavors and the experience. So it’s a good and bad thing,” Selvaraj said. “The good thing is you have not tasted something like this anywhere else. The bad thing is you’re not familiar with it. You have to come and try it for you to know who we are.” 

Selvaraj said what influenced him to open a restaurant was his food truck coming to the University of Minnesota campus yearly for the College of Liberal Arts Day during Welcome Week, music events at Northrop and student communities over the summer. 

Pizza Karma is waiting for the city’s health department to issue health approval. Once it is delivered, Selvaraj said the restaurant will be ready to open. 

Along with Frank & Andrea and Mesa Pizza in Dinkytown, and Blaze Pizza and Domino’s in Stadium Village, this restaurant will become the fifth pizza place near campus.

Fourth-year student Niko Vasilopoulos said he hopes Pizza Karma will make a positive impact on the culture of Dinkytown.

“I’m hopeful that new restaurants opening will lead to more options for the student body, and since Dinkytown is a thriving hub for student life, options for students to eat and hang out there are very important,” Vasilopoulos said. 

Selvaraj said he plans for the restaurant to be open until 3 or 4 a.m. so students can come by after a night out.

Luke Wittner, a fourth-year student, said pizza places around campus are oversaturated, so being open late will give it an edge over the other nearby pizza places. 

“That’s perfect,” Wittner said. “That is a good move by him. Having a pizza place with two others close by is bold and he needs to do something to stand out.” 

Although he has no issue with Pizza Karma specifically, seeing some more variety in the restaurants near campus would have been better, third-year student Daigan Berger said. 

“At a certain point, I don’t see how adding more of the same place helps the college town,” Berger said. 

Pizza Karma’s opening date is yet to be announced, although when it does, Selvaraj said the first 100 people will receive free pizza.